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1. The Quarantine Lie: How Providence Hospital’s Smallpox Cover-Up Sparked a Public Health Crisis

   A desperate letter from hospital staff reveals that patients were turned away or allowed to leave while infected with smallpox, leading to a chaotic quarantine and widespread community fear in early 1903 Seattle.

   Mar 19, 1889The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

2. The Hidden Costs of Invasive Pests

   A single discarded fruit box from California brought the destructive San Jose scale to a local orchard, illustrating the need for strict quarantine measures.

   Oct 22, 1891The Yakima HeraldAhtanum, Yakima, Yakima County

3. The Orchardist Who Told the State Its Moth Spraying Was Useless

   In 1898, a North Yakima grower argued that the state's codlin-moth spray schedule did not fit the Yakima Valley's climate—and warned that apple and pear growing might be doomed without better field science.

   Nov 17, 1898Ranche and RangeYakima, Yakima CountyBoom & Bust

4. Tacoma’s Tent Caterpillar Plague

   A horticultural emergency prompts city officials to order residents to prune or burn infested branches as an invasive pest threatens to strip the city’s trees.

   Jun 2, 1904The Tacoma TimesWright Park, Tacoma, Pierce CountyCity Hall · Strange But True

5. Quarantined Residents Left Without Food in Seattle

   Thirty people trapped inside the St. Denis hotel by a smallpox order face city bureaucracy and hunger.

   Oct 2, 1892The Seattle Post-Intelligencer1314 1/2 3rd Ave, Seattle, King CountyCity Hall

6. Quarantine Enforcement on Sprague Street

   When parents failed to keep children with smallpox indoors, health officials forcibly removed the family to the pest house.

   Jun 29, 1903The Evening StatesmanWalla Walla, Walla Walla CountyCity Hall

7. Delirium and Chaos at the Pest House

   Patients suffering from smallpox break into a violent frenzy, forcing the Health Officer to intervene.

   Oct 22, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyStrange But True

8. Smallpox Returns to Walla Walla

   City and county officials establish a new health board as cases emerge at the local pest house.

   Jun 12, 1903The Evening StatesmanWalla Walla, Walla Walla CountyCity Hall

9. The Deadly Pest Hiding in Fruit Stands

   A local doctor warns Seattle citizens that hucksters are selling oranges infested with the destructive San Jose scale, prompting calls for a crackdown on imported produce.

   Mar 12, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall · Strange But True

10. The Ground-Squirrel Plague and the Bomb That Sent Them to 'Squirrel Heaven'

    Whitman County farmers hoped a mysterious disease would wipe out the pests. Then came strychnine, arsenic and patented giant-powder bombs.

    Apr 9, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerPenawawa, Whitman CountyStrange But True

11. The Great Escape from the Pest House

    Afraid of being locked in a 'death pen' for an illness, a Skagit man chose to walk home from Seattle to Mount Vernon over two and a half days.

    Mar 29, 1889The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyStrange But True

12. The Smallpox Dog

    A doctor in a smallpox hospital realizes that a stray cur visiting the wards is the vector for a new patient's infection.

    Sep 2, 1883Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyStrange But True

13. The Smallpox Scare of 1880

    When a woman was quarantined in the local pest house for suspected smallpox, local doctors sparred over whether her condition was actually a common venereal disease.

    Nov 9, 1880The Daily IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall · Strange But True

14. Strawberry Root Borer Discovered in Local Fields

    A dangerous pest has been identified in Kennewick and Richland, and authorities warn that immediate destruction of infested plants is the only way to save the industry.

    Apr 15, 1915The Kennewick Courier-ReporterKennewick, Benton County

15. The War on Flies

    Richland's high school students join the Ladies' Civic Club to systematically combat the local pest population.

    Jan 21, 1915The Kennewick Courier-ReporterRichland High School, Richland, Benton CountyStrange But True

16. The City’s Pest House

    The Supreme Court rules in favor of a man whose property was turned into a smallpox quarantine facility without his consent.

    Apr 19, 1904The Tacoma TimesKent, King CountyCity Hall

17. Orchardists Want Thurston County to Stop Betting on Town Lots

    A new horticultural society forms in Olympia, promising experiments in fruit, flowers and prunes—and a future beyond real-estate speculation.

    Apr 7, 1892The Olympia TribuneOlympia, Thurston CountyBoom & Bust

18. The Price of a 'Pest House' in Pioneer Seattle

    As drought and economic chaos gripped 1877 San Francisco, Seattle citizens found themselves debating the ethics of turning a local residential property into an isolation facility for the smallpox-stricken.

    Jan 24, 1877The Daily IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

19. The Smallpox Panic in Old Seattle

    After a patient infected with smallpox was discovered wandering near a hotel and the police station, the city scrambled to replace its health officer and overhaul its containment protocols.

    Oct 23, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerWashington Street, Seattle, King CountyCity Hall

20. Smallpox Hits the Upper Town

    A young child’s illness sparks a strict quarantine as the city grapples with a frightening outbreak.

    Mar 1, 1883Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

21. Smallpox and Scandal at the Pest House

    Mayor Ronald rejects calls to remove the Board of Health despite documented brutality and neglect at the city's quarantine facility.

    Oct 8, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

22. Smallpox Scare Hits Newport

    A logging camp worker arrives in town carrying a contagious disease, forcing the city to confront the need for a pest house.

    Feb 3, 1910The Newport Miner (Newport, WA) 1899-CurrentNewport, Pend Oreille CountyCity Hall · Disasters

23. An Army of Caterpillars Invades the North End

    Thousands of hungry pests swarm Tacoma’s trees, leaving residents fearful for the city’s greenery.

    May 31, 1904The Tacoma TimesTacoma, Pierce CountyStrange But True

24. The Midnight Escape from the Smallpox Ward

    A star baseball player stages a daring rescue of his wife from a quarantine hospital to catch a train for a new job.

    Jun 24, 1903The Evening StatesmanWalla Walla, Walla Walla CountyStrange But True

25. Strawberry Industry at a Crossroads

    Local inspectors warn that an invasive root weevil threatens to wipe out Kennewick’s strawberry patches unless growers act immediately.

    Jun 3, 1915The Kennewick Courier-ReporterKennewick, Benton County

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